During general cleaning, attention must be paid to windows. They are washed about 3-4 times a year. The dustiness of the area is of great importance. However, you cannot wash the blinds every time the windows are washed. Most often, the dust that has settled on the lamellas is collected with a vacuum cleaner. Blinds need to be washed about once or twice a year.
The cleaning procedure allows you to restore a neat look to this type of sun protection systems. In this case, the whole procedure can be done independently. How to wash blinds of various types, it will be interesting for every housewife to know.
Varieties of blinds
There is a large selection of configurations and materials for window sun protection systems. Before deciding how to wash blinds at home, it is necessary to take into account some of their features. First of all, it should be said that there are vertical and horizontal varieties of the presented interior elements. The first group of lamellas is considered more capricious. They require special care. Horizontal blinds can be simply wiped with a damp cloth, without even removing the structure from the window.
Blinds slats can be fabric, wood or metal. Depending on the type of material, they are cleaned. Most often, manufacturers indicate how to properly perform this process. Some types of designs are strictly forbidden to be washed.
In some cases, the material from which the sun protection system is made allows you to wash the blinds in the washing machine. But most often the procedure has to be done manually.
Horizontal Aluminum Blinds
When considering how to wash blinds, you should first of all pay attention to horizontal varieties. They can be made from different materials. Under no circumstances should they be machine washed.
Aluminum lamellas, for obvious reasons, should be cleaned under running water. In this case, the structure is dismantled from the window. You can, of course, wipe all the structural elements with a damp cloth. However, this will be a long, tedious process.
After the structure is removed from the window, it must be brought into the bathroom. Here the blinds are hung on a clothesline. Next, using a spray bottle, detergent is sprayed over the entire surface of the material. If the pollution is very strong, the substance is left on the lamellas for a while. Then they are washed with a stream of water from the shower. The same procedure is carried out on the reverse side.
Which blinds can't be washed?
When studying the technique of how to wash blinds at home, you should consider varieties of materials that do not tolerate moisture. These include bamboo wood and fiberglass fabrics.
When a large amount of water gets on such lamellas, the material begins to deteriorate. It can swell and deform. Therefore, being the owner of such sun protection structures, gentle cleaning methods should be preferred. Such blinds can not be dismantled from the window. All structural elements are wiped with a slightly damp cloth.
Bamboo blinds and fiberglass slats are recommended to be cleaned with a vacuum cleaner. Even a damp cloth can spoil the appearance of such materials. Therefore, this cleaning method is only suitable for wood.
It is also not recommended to wash materials that are prone to shedding. Wet the edge of the lamella with warm water, and then rub it with a white rag. If paint remains on the material, these blinds cannot be washed.
Wash type
Strip fabric lamellas can be manual and machine. The choice depends on the type of material. So, it is allowed to wash the slats made of cotton and polyester fibers in the machine. It does not matter what type of construction the product belongs to.
When considering how to wash vertical blinds in a washing machine, you should take into account the characteristics of the material. The lamellas in this case will be wide enough. They can get tangled when machine washed. If you want to clean horizontal narrow blinds, you can simply put them in the unit. The fabric strips will not get tangled.
When studying the technique of how to wash vertical blinds in a washing machine, you should also take into account that the material may stretch or shrink after washing. Therefore, you can not heat water above 35 ºС. This also applies to hand washing.
Machine wash
To understand how to wash vertical blinds in the washing machine, you should consider a simple technique. It prevents tangling of the lamellas and their deformation. Depending on the length and density of each element of the system, it is necessary to fold 5-7 strips into a laundry bag. In this case, do not stretch the material too much. It is enough just to slightly twist the selected slats.
Powder should not contain bleach or aggressive substances. When choosing a mode, set the delicate wash. Spinning should take place at the lowest speed. Better to do without it altogether.
Even in the most gentle mode, a special protective layer will be washed off the surface of the material. Therefore, the less washing is performed, the longer the blinds will last. When the protective layer disappears, the dust will eat into the structure of the material. The slats will quickly lose their appearance.
Disassembly and installation
When learning how to wash vertical blinds at home, you need to consider the process of dismantling and installing them in their original place. To remove the blinds, it is necessary to disconnect the slats from the frame and other metal elements. All plastic parts should also be removed gradually and carefully.
After that, the processwashing. Lamels are hung on the balcony or on the street. They should dry in a well-ventilated area away from direct sunlight or heating appliances. By knowing how to wash your vertical blinds, you can ensure that the material looks attractive for years to come.
Hanging blinds on the frame should be at a time when they are not completely dry. Weights are placed on them. With this approach, all structural elements will quickly align and take on their original shape.
Hand wash
Some fabrics should only be washed by hand. In this case, a special technology is also used, which explains how to wash vertical blinds.
The algorithm is similar to the one used for machine washing. Vertical lamellas must be twisted into rolls. If they unwind, they are placed in special bags. The material should be soaked for an hour. In this case, the granules of the washing powder should not settle on the material. They are pre-dissolved in warm water (up to 35 ºС).
Further, the slats are washed with a stream of water from the shower until the soap film disappears. When washing, do not use a brush, rub spots with stains. If after soaking severe contamination has not disappeared, the procedure is repeated again. Only this time, add more powder to the water.
Knowing how to wash your blinds can greatly improve the look of your window sun protection system. The manual approach takes longer, butthe end result in this case will be much better than when using the mechanical method.
Washing horizontal slats
Knowing how to wash blinds at home, you can save a lot of money on the family budget by not going to the dry cleaners. For horizontal varieties of systems, a certain cleaning technology is also used.
The slats of such blinds need to be lifted up. At the same time, they will "look" at the ceiling. The protruding flags must be moved to the right side towards you. This will allow you to remove the structure from the brackets. Gently, holding the lamellas, you need to pull the system towards you and down. Blinds should be easily dismantled from the window.
Slats should be open. Otherwise, they will stick together. Further, under the pressure of water from the shower, you can clean the material from contaminants. After that, the blinds should be laid in a bath in soapy water. The procedure takes several hours. Then you can get the structure and rinse with running water.
It will take about 30 minutes for the slats to dry. After that, you can install the system on the window again.
Clean without dismantling
Knowing how to wash blinds in the machine and by hand, you should consider in detail another approach. It does not involve dismantling the system from the window. Cleaning is simple.
First, the dust is removed from the surfaces of the material with a vacuum cleaner. To do this, you need a nozzle without bristles. The procedure is performed on the front and back sides. Next, in warm water, you need to dissolve the detergentmeans. In this case, you need to whip the foam.
The sponge is dipped into the solution and squeezed out. It should be damp, but not wet. The slats are cleaned with a sponge from all sides. If there are stains on the material, cleaning is carried out several times in this place. Do not press too hard on the sponge. Material from mechanical impact may be deformed or shed.
Slats should not get very wet. If they absorb a lot of moisture, streaks may form. The soap film is removed from the surface of the material with a damp cloth. It is dipped in clean water and squeezed. After a couple of hours, the blinds will dry out. This cleaning is considered gentle, so it is suitable for most materials.
Having considered how to wash the blinds, each housewife will be able to clean them efficiently. At the same time, the service life of the system will be long.
